Finally rest(and itchy feet for some)

Tuesday morning we were ecstatic to finally be able to have a morning without setting our alarm.  Whew, what a whirl-wind of a last week we have had!  Z now has a bad cough and was up throughout the night barking.  As the week has progressed she has gotten better.  Unfortunately they were on a strict schedule at the orphanage and all children were woken up by at least 6am.  Needless to say 5:30am seems to be when she has decided to start her day.  Hoping to work on that when we get home as big sister prefers to sleep until at least 8-as does momJ.

We have settled into a bit of a routine here.  After the men started to get itchy feet from the lack of schedule we have decided to eat breakfast at 8.  If we are doing a day trip we then meander out for the morning.  Usually back around 1 or 2 then have some lunch and the girls(and adults) can have a little nap.  By 3 it is “tea time”  then supper needs to be made, coffee at 5, dinner, children’s bath and bed time, game or watch soccer, night cap and then bed.  We then start the entire schedule over again the next day. 

Balancing the trip is somewhat of a challenge.  We need to stay busy enough that we don’t go stir crazy but create enough downtime that we don’t create grumpy children.  We also need to be cautious that the new one has time to adjust to all these new experiences.  We are still struggling to find that balance.

We have gone on a number of “outings”.  We went to visit 3 other families from Canada adopting little girls:one from London, one from Breslau and one from Baden of all places!  They are all staying at another B and B about 5 minutes from our place. Who knew we had to travel 2 days to meet people living 5 minutes from our house!

We have gone to “The Pavilion” a large mall that is basically the same as our malls back home.  Same name brands, same clothes and about the same prices.

We left one day to go to a large market downtown.  We were told the safest was to park in the underground secure parking and to go in the morning before it got really busy.  We arrived and saw the clearanceor the underground parking was 2 metres.  We thought we would fit. . .  We got a couple feet in and started to hear a lot of scraping on the top of the van.  A parking attendant came by and told us we were not going to fit and needed to park on the road. D still tells the story of “when we tried to park in the garage but were to big”.  As Gene says “we would need a little more Vaseline to fit in that one”.  Van came out unscathed and we still have a good laugh about it.

Our super van(they call it a bus here) which apparently has a clearance of 2 metres and 1 inch.

We then tried to find parking on the street but downtown Durban is more than crazy.  We opted to see the “Golden Mile” instead. This area was “redone” for the World Cup years ago and is a mile of beach front beautifully made for walking, shops and activities.  There were lots of street vendors so did a little shopping. D was more than excited to be at the ocean and asks daily when we can go back. 

First feet in the ocean

We generally need to do groceries every 2 or 3 days as we have a small fridge.  So that is another outing. We have become fairly familiar with the local “SuperSpar” and rather enjoy it.   Corry and I are proud of the meals we can create in our small kitchen.  Having familiar food has helped us cope with the reality of the long time away from home.  We were also over the moon to find out that our unit has a WASHING MACHINE!  We thought we would need to find a laundry facility and this has made things much simpler for us.  

Our small but very functional kitchen.

Our current accommodations is a 2 bedroom, 2 washroom cottage with a small living space and kitchen. On Friday we are heading to a 4 bedroom cottage by the beach.  We have made this comfortable but are glad to be moving somewhere that at least has a table to eat at and a little more space so we aren't tripping over each other.  The weather here is only warm when the sun is out from about 11-3.  Then we all put on our warm clothes, crank up the heater and move inside.  D has jumped in the pool a little but it is REALLY cold even for her.

The view of the pool from our cottage.
You'll notice we are in the last bit of sun left!

Our 2 bedroom cottage on the hill.